Speed blogging

OTPR points out that "local control" often means "don't bother us while we ruin our water supplies." I left this comment:

There's some truth to the benefits of local control versus delegation to a regional or state authority. Let’s be generous and say local = watershed or aquifer. In that case, local control would be best EXCEPT if locals have a short-term view AND either ecosystems (public goods) will be negatively impacted by poor management OR non-locals will be obliged to bail out locals who ruin their water. Those conditions are pretty common in Calif., so now we see the nature of the problem — and solutions. Regional or state take-over to protect public goods and/or and end to bailouts.

There's a water cap and trade webinar on 13 June (contact s.midgley@oieau.fr to register). To read more about the project (and access background materials on markets in Europe, Chile and the US), go here

Steve Maxwell's 2014 Water Market Review (of companies dealing with water, not water-the-commodity) is available for free download. Its 28 pages have LOTS of industry insights